ICT Price Action Study

SMT Divergence & Breaker Pattern

"Price will give you everything you need. The open high low and close is all that is necessary."

Foundation: Institutional Price Perception

SMT
Smart Money Technique (SMT)

"When we look at price action in any time frame... when we look for key swings in the marketplace invariably the traders that are indoctrinated in trading they will use oscillators stochastic rsi cci macd something to that effect"

"While there are times when indicators will flag a setup the problem with that is the creators of these indicators and the authors and the promoters of them in their pet models or systems they don't really go into a great detail on or at least not in the vein of accuracy when do you when do you apply them to the chart accurately"

~2:26

Why Price Action Alone

"We shun all that stuff because it's a distraction from the actual price itself because price will give you everything you need. The open high low and close is all that is necessary."

~3:34

"Smart money institutional order flow the brains behind these price moves cannot hide their footprints they cannot do it it's impossible for them to do it"

~3:47

Why This Will Always Work

"Anything that I'm teaching whether it be here or in my private mentorship it is not going to change okay because it's rooted in the basis that the large order flows that exchange between the central banks the large producers or creators of commodities these entities are in lockstep with large fund traders"

~4:22

"Because their marriage okay and dance between the ebbs and flow of the marketplace the commercials pair up with the large fund traders and they're always diametrically opposed so when the large fund traders are bullish and they're buying long-term trends the commercial traders are providing that liquidity to be counterparty and they have deeper pockets they can ride out those long drawn out moves because they understand that it's going to eventually revert back to the main"

~5:36
Key Understanding

"As long as those two entities exist the things I teach on are never going to diminish they're not going to stop working... It does not mean that you as the speculator will not interpret it incorrectly because you are human just like I'm human I can make a mistake just as well as anyone else"

SMT Divergence

DIV
What is SMT Divergence

"There is a way of measuring divergence okay in the price action and the way I do it is I put a closely correlated market with the market I'm looking to trade and I just overlay it"

"You start by having an underlying premise what should the market be reacting to why should it be reacting to it in the sense that it gives you a buy or sell scenario in other words what is your bias what are you anticipating happening once price trades to a particular price level"

~12:24

Bearish SMT Divergence

Bearish SMT Divergence - Correlated Pairs
New Zealand Dollar High Higher High Australian Dollar (Overlay) Lower High SMT Divergence BEARISH SIGNAL: NZD: Higher High AUD: Lower High

"Look at how the high in new zealand went higher here but look at the highs comparably in the australian dollar it was lower on par you see that that is my smt divergence okay or smart money technique or smart money tool"

~20:20

"Whenever this occurs in price action okay this is indicating that there's a lot of selling going on in australian dollar. The fact that the australian dollar was not able to get back up and trade above its old high like the new zealand dollar did here it's tipping its hand that these two pairs are likely to go down because they're closely correlated"

~27:01

Bullish SMT Divergence

Bullish SMT Divergence - Correlated Pairs
New Zealand Dollar Low Lower Low Australian Dollar (Overlay) Higher Low SMT Divergence BULLISH SIGNAL: NZD: Lower Low AUD: Higher Low

"The crack in correlation between the two which we have a lower low in new zealand and a higher low in australian dollar that's what we're seeing here this is an smt divergence that's bullish. What is it saying it's saying that this currency the australian dollar is the stronger of the currency at that moment and that this run below this low here on this low on new zealand this is a stop run so you can feel confident buying below this low because you're buying up sell stops"

~42:44

What Causes SMT Divergence

"When the currencies have this relationship where the australian dollar was failing to make that lower low here and it indicated a higher low at the time of the new zealand dollar made this lower low that's showing a lot of buying in australian dollar they're buying new zealand dollar too clearly but the fact that they're not always lock step with one another because if the markets were perfect okay if they were perfect that means the australian dollar would make a lower low here too"

~45:49

"That is the reason why I said in the beginning this video what I'm teaching you will never diminish it will always be there because just like there was a lot of buying in australian dollar here an australian dollar went higher it led to a sympathy move on new zealand dollar too it followed suit"

~42:22
!
Critical Understanding

"Just because there's a divergence between the relationships of the highs like here's the higher high in new zealand and the lower high in aussie dollar just because it does that doesn't necessarily mean there's going to be a trade. You have to have like I was showing you moments ago... you have these understandings that the buy side liquidity is going to be tapped"

The ICT Breaker Pattern

BRK
Bearish ICT Breaker

"The breaker is essentially this high to that low in this low up to this higher high okay you see that so it's this pattern"

"What you want to do is train your eye to look at that last down closed candle because that last down closed candle is the actual new future resistance level it's not ambiguous it's not a question of which low do I use here"

~15:40
Bearish ICT Breaker Pattern
RELATIVE EQUAL HIGHS Buy Stops Resting Here High Equal High Low Higher High (Runs Buy Stops) BREAKER Last Down Candle Breaks Low ENTRY Price trades back up into breaker TARGET Low prior to retracement Stop Loss Above Breaker

Trading the Breaker

"When market trades below that low we wait for it to trade back up into it once it trades back up into it then you could look for it to trade to what the low that formed prior to this retracement that in itself is a complete trading model"

~16:32

"By itself it is all one of you out here listening to me is all that you're ever going to need to do in trading and you can find this pattern on five-minute charts 15-minute charts four-hour charts eight-hour charts daily charts weekly charts monthly charts and you can frame that whole model on the time frame and duration that you would like to trade in"

~16:43

Stop Loss Placement

"You're gonna frame a short that has the stop loss above the breaker candle. You have two up close candle in here that's a bearish order block of closed candle up close candle so your stop has to be above this candle because you're comparing the order block with the location of the breaker the order block gives you a little bit higher"

~23:08

"As it trades up into this level you're going to be looking for a stop loss above that and then you don't have to worry about it if you get stopped out you get stopped out you did it wrong it's a wrong selection on the trade and there's no reason for you to going out there trying to avoid every losing trade that's also a problem with new traders"

~23:32

Complete Trading Model

Core Teaching

"This is a complete 100 from beginning to end price action model you can use this on any time frame you can use this in commodities you can use it in well clearly 4x and you can use it for any type of trading intraday day trading short-term trading swing trading long-term position trading it's 100 scalable and you can do this multiple times a week"

The Process

"Look for relative equal highs here in a consolidating market and then look at a closely correlated asset"

"Anticipate buy stops to form and start pulling in other words start to collect or gather just above these highs"

"Look for the smt divergence when that happens you either are confident to trade the higher high market or wait for it to break down and get the breaker"

"Once it trades below this low... now your setup is the next action point"

"Wait for it to trade back up into that candle... once it trades back up into the breaker you're gonna frame a short"

"Look for it to trade to what the low that formed prior to this retracement"

The Easiest Training Wheels

"The easiest training wheels to get to that is using the breaker pattern that means learn to anticipate this high forming and then reject but don't trade that yet. Once it breaks down you know all you're going to do is wait for this candle to get traded back up to"

~22:41

Taking Profits

"Once this occurs once you go below this low you're out you're done or if you have framed this whole thing on the basis that it's a little bit longer term setup then you can take off some portion... take off half okay or more than half below this low as it trades below it and then you leave a stop that's reasonable locking in something then you let the remainder trade and if it can go lower you'll be able to participate in that and then keep scaling out as it keeps going lower"

~17:41

"Initially when you first start to look for things like this you want to try to take all of your profit here because you want to train yourself to feel comfortable engaging number one and then clearing the trade with a profit banking banking it completely"

~18:17

Range Bound Markets & SMT

"In range-bound environments generally oscillators will do very well if you're looking to trade divergence"

~3:10

"This model works extremely well... in a trending environment it would be better for you not to reach for smt when the market's trending because it's going to have a less likelihood of creating a setup for you to find it's easy to see whereas when it's range bound it's easy to see a smt divergence"

~44:47

Dollar Index Consolidation

"Look at the dollar index the dollar index is consolidating that doesn't mean it's not moving on lower time frames but it's still in a consolidation so when they put a stranglehold on dollar your mind as a trader should start thinking okay we are in an area or environment that the crosses are going to have the big moves"

~31:23
$
When Dollar Consolidates

"If the dollar is in consolidation okay if it's in its event it's a range okay if the fed's holding dollar in a narrow range you immediately start going through and finding the strong and the weak pairs using what I showed you here by comparing and contrasting their relative equal highs or relative equal lows and then which one's the strongest and then start looking for other pairs that are stronger okay and then find a strong versus a weak currency"

Cross Pairs Opportunity

"Using this idea finding underlyingly weak currencies and coupling it with a strong currency... the run on euro dollar has been essentially 130 140 pips that's not bad but for you freaks out there when you want to do a couple more legs in your analysis you'll be able to find times when the euro aussie cross pair will have an out performance where it moves 1 to 300 plus pips"

~30:04

Key Rules

Critical Rule - Never Buy Above Old Highs

"We don't like to buy above old highs that's a rule right away in your notes you should have never buy above old highs in other words if we just traded above old highs we can't take new longs there that can't happen"

Critical Rule - Never Sell Below Old Lows

"Just as well we can't sell short below old lows we can't do that because above old highs there's buys liquidity that's buy stops you're entering like the retail trader does"

Institutional Mindset

"When we as institutionally minded traders are not looking at that with the buying interest we're either looking for it to offer counterparty and we're going to sell short to those buying interests or we're going to wait to see if it drops away from that level and that's the more conservative approach"

Common Mistakes

"If you look at your trades that you lost money on I guarantee you especially if you're a new student or a new trader you were trying to buy something that has already been going up for a length of time okay in other words you were buying like in here thinking it's going to keep going up because it's a bull flag"

~13:24

"Every single trader has always done that stupid mistake of chasing price in some silly early stage of their development they did that everyone did that and there's no reason to feel silly to the point where you beat yourself up about it"

~13:51

On Losing Trades

"If you have a sound model and this is a sound model like this is a complete model you don't need to do anything else but look for these types of setups and they form weekly every single week this pattern forms but you have to know what you're looking for and the only way you're going to know what you're looking for is by repetitive study"

~23:52

Study Requirements

"If you just watch my videos or if you just watch my videos and just go to your charts and look and and don't make any annotations don't screen capture anything you're wasting your time you clearly are wasting your time and you're not going to be able to develop and you're looking at ict as forex netflix"

~18:53

"You have to train yourself and that only happens by practicing and putting your work into it"

~19:13

"Every one of you in this community should have a study journal... you want to print out or at least screen capture and save these in your electronic journal"

~18:40

Study Flashcards

Click each card to reveal the answer (direct quotes from the teaching).

What is the SMT divergence technique?
"There is a way of measuring divergence okay in the price action and the way I do it is I put a closely correlated market with the market I'm looking to trade and I just overlay it"
Click to reveal
What does it mean when Australian Dollar fails to make a higher high while New Zealand makes one?
"This is indicating that there's a lot of selling going on in australian dollar. The fact that the australian dollar was not able to get back up and trade above its old high like the new zealand dollar did here it's tipping its hand that these two pairs are likely to go down because they're closely correlated"
Click to reveal
What is the bearish ICT breaker?
"The breaker is essentially this high to that low in this low up to this higher high okay you see that so it's this pattern... what you want to do is train your eye to look at that last down closed candle because that last down closed candle is the actual new future resistance level"
Click to reveal
Where do you enter a short using the breaker pattern?
"When market trades below that low we wait for it to trade back up into it once it trades back up into it then you could look for it to trade to what the low that formed prior to this retracement"
Click to reveal
What is the rule about buying above old highs?
"We don't like to buy above old highs that's a rule right away in your notes you should have never buy above old highs in other words if we just traded above old highs we can't take new longs there that can't happen"
Click to reveal
Why does SMT divergence work in range-bound markets better?
"In a trending environment it would be better for you not to reach for smt when the market's trending because it's going to have a less likelihood of creating a setup for you to find it's easy to see whereas when it's range bound it's easy to see a smt divergence"
Click to reveal
What does bullish SMT divergence indicate?
"The crack in correlation between the two which we have a lower low in new zealand and a higher low in australian dollar that's what we're seeing here this is an smt divergence that's bullish. What is it saying it's saying that this currency the australian dollar is the stronger of the currency at that moment and that this run below this low here on this low on new zealand this is a stop run"
Click to reveal
Why will these concepts never stop working?
"It is not going to change okay because it's rooted in the basis that the large order flows that exchange between the central banks the large producers or creators of commodities these entities are in lockstep with large fund traders... as long as those two entities exist the things I teach on are never going to diminish"
Click to reveal
What happens when the dollar is in consolidation?
"When they put a stranglehold on dollar your mind as a trader should start thinking okay we are in an area or environment that the crosses are going to have the big moves"
Click to reveal
What is the x-ray view of price action?
"There's a way for you to see real accumulation and real distribution and you can see it by looking at just the price no indicators none whatsoever"
Click to reveal
What causes the crack in correlation (SMT divergence)?
"If we ever see that occurring that is the surest sign if you have the profile correct... the volume of their buying and selling will create these cracks in correlation or the smt divergence in itself okay so that's what causes this deviation between the relationships of higher highs and lower lows"
Click to reveal
Where should the stop loss be placed when trading the breaker?
"You're gonna frame a short that has the stop loss above the breaker candle. You have two up close candle in here that's a bearish order block of closed candle up close candle so your stop has to be above this candle because you're comparing the order block with the location of the breaker"
Click to reveal